Phnom Penh

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Cambodia certainly felt different to Vietnam, very flat from the border with a lot of flood land and tonnes of buffalo's wandering the fields and gardens of the locals. Buddhism is the main religion here and it is etched throughout the country with some stunning architecture. I arrived midday, so was able to walk around the city and headed to the national museum. I was alright, a bit like the national museum in Hanoi, with a lot of artifacts, but there were somethings to read in English and gain an understanding about the country.

Next day my Swedish friend Toni and a friend from Israel Mike, headed by tuk-tuk to the Tuol Sleng Museum also known as S-21. This used to be a school, but Pol Pot head of the Khmer Rouge turned it into a prison, where he would torture and kill other Cambodian people in the centre of the capital. Was a strange and unnerving place to be seeing the pictures and reading the stories, reminded me of Auschwitz. We the headed to the killing fields and we decided to hire a guide which was a great idea as he was very informative and told us many things about the hard times in Cambodia. Basically Pol Pot ruled for 3 years and sent everyone out of the capital and slowly asked certain people back. He killed all the intellectuals, anyone with glasses and there families (James you would have been safe). He didn't want anyone clever enough to challenge his regime. Eventually Vietnam after there war came in and forced Pol Pot into exile in the country. The main people behind this genocide are only now being tried for war crimes 30 years after and most of the leaders have already died.

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